LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman: Expand The H-1B Program, And Tax It

The debate over the H-1B immigrant worker program -- a program
under attack with
new restrictions going into place -- isn't done yet.

The latest to enter the fray is LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. In
an op-ed running in today's
WashPost, Reid notes that companies such as Microsoft, MTV,
CNN, FedEx, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Burger King all started
during economic downturns.

"We need to prepare for the next Burger King," Reid says.

Reid's plan:

Extending micro-credit lines of $50,000 to small businesses
to help them get started.

Expand the H-1B program, but nail employers with a 10%
payroll tax for taking on foreign workers.

More on that last bit:

Harvard research fellow Vivek Wadhwa reports
that immigrants have founded more than half of all Silicon Valley
start-ups in the past decade. These immigrant-led, American tech
companies employed more than 450,000 workers and grossed $52
billion in 2005. For U.S. companies to employ a highly
specialized foreign worker, the employee must hold an H-1B visa,
but current law allows for the issuing of only 65,000 H-1B visas
per year.

The H-1B cap was established to prevent foreigners from taking
American jobs, but, in fact, an education gap frequently leaves
American candidates less qualified for these positions.
Lawmakers could improve the situation all around by
removing the cap on H-1B visas while imposing a 10 percent
payroll tax above and beyond the benchmark salary for any
position being filled by holders of such visas. The proceeds of
the payroll tax could be channeled into U.S. reeducation
programs. This compromise would bring the best
innovators to work here while subsidizing the continued education
of American talent.